Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police chief SP Vaid asserted that there was "no security lapse" in the 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack on a district police complex in south Kashmir's Pulwama on Saturday, in which eight security personnel were killed.

He said the militants had taken shelter in the family quarters of the complex.

Representational image. PTI

"The security forces together evacuated everybody from those blocks and in the process, we have suffered some casualties, but the terrorists have been eliminated," he said.

The terror strike took place at the crack of dawn when the militants, believed to be foreign mercenaries, entered the police complex in the worst-hit Pulwama district, 25 km.

Three terrorists have been killed.

Among the security personnel killed, four were from the CRPF, one was a constable of Jammu and Kashmir Police and three were Special Police Officers working with the state police.

Asked whether the security forces were ready to tackle such challenges in the future, the director general of police (DGP) said, "We are alert and we will take care of that."

The police chief was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony for two CRPF jawans, constable Jaswant Singh, a resident of Haryana, and head constable Dhanawade Ravindra Baban, a resident of Maharashtra.